Mazzola was a former cop with the Passaic force for six years when he left in 1976 on a disability pension, and since then has served hard time on multiple convictions as reported by Louis C. Hochman for nj.com: "Mazzola was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison in 1999 for assaulting a debtor in a Passaic store," and "he previously served a decade in prison for armed robbery, extortion and racketeering."